Physix Question?

[armchair overlord]

I guess that I am just confused about the difference between knockback and thrust, and also slam damage and collision damage.

So, if something gets knocked back, does it count as thrust?

It says in the minifig rules that if they are knockbacked into something that stops them, they take slam damage equal to the cancelled distance. Does the thing they hit take slam damage? If they hit something smaller than them that would NOT stop them, is IT knocked back or given thrust or damaged at all? Do all MoCs take slam damage in this context, even though the expanded section on thrust and collision rules never mentions it again?

This is literally the only thing in the rules I do not understand.

[stubby]

I guess that I am just confused about the difference between knockback and thrust, and also slam damage and collision damage.

I'm glad you pointed this out. There's a bunch of stuff that can be simplified here, and I've been updating the rulebook to match.

So, if something gets knocked back, does it count as thrust?

KnockBack is Thrust, and I'm working on making this more clear in the rulebook.

It says in the minifig rules that if they are knockbacked into something that stops them, they take slam damage equal to the cancelled distance. Does the thing they hit take slam damage?

I'm updating this part as well. When an obstacle stops a Thrusting object, only the smaller obstacle takes Smash damage. If they're the same size, neither takes damage. Normally if a large object strikes a small object it just knocks it back as well, or rolls over it rather than stopping (causing Trampling, which is another form of Smash damage). If both objects are the same size then neither takes Smash damage.

[armchair overlord]

I appreciate you clearing that up, and will be keeping my eyes open for said revision.

With that tiny wrinkle ironed over, I can go on run a superhero game (or anything ELSE I want) with no further issues.

Tangentially related, I am a big fan of this system. I am a REALLY big war gamer, and despite familiarizing myself with countless rule systems running well into the realm of 3 digits, BrikWars is (ironically, considering its tone) the single best I have yet to find (making the money I spent on ASoBH, Power Legion, and SuperSystem right before finding it seem wasted).

Thank you for keeping up the good work, and may the game remain ever free of ****ing hit points.

Respect.

[dilanski]

I appreciate you clearing that up, and will be keeping my eyes open for said revision.

With that tiny wrinkle ironed over, I can go on run a superhero game (or anything ELSE I want) with no further issues.

Tangentially related, I am a big fan of this system. I am a REALLY big war gamer, and despite familiarizing myself with countless rule systems running well into the realm of 3 digits, BrikWars is (ironically, considering its tone) the single best I have yet to find (making the money I spent on ASoBH, Power Legion, and SuperSystem right before finding it seem wasted).

Thank you for keeping up the good work, and may the game remain ever free of ****ing hit points.

Respect.

Aren't size levels sort of like hit points?

Anyway, always remember; watching Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny is required before running any kind of superhero game. It is the only way to get the tone right.

[armchair overlord]

It is VERY different, I think, in that size damage actually weakens the capabilities of the sufferer, and is tied to tangible traits that exist (the size of the structure) instead of being an arbitrary invisible cushion that drags out fights because you have to stab a guy in the throat 79 times to make the 80th suddenly behave like a throat stab.

Think of it like this: if you want to brute force that thing that is as big as 8 guys, and can use as much weaponry as 8 guys, you have to do 8 size damage. And every time you do enough size damage to kill a guy, that big thing is suddenly one guy's worth of power weaker. It is basically just like fighting a bunch of soldiers of equal total size and power, that weakens as you hit it instead of staying at 100% power and thus gives you more options than "everyone shoot the same thing to give them less actions," which is basically the ONLY strategy in too many games where HP is involved.

Besides, component damage is also a (glorious) thing that can let you ignore size damage in a lot of cases, anyway. It is fun to know that you can take out dragons or other giant monsters by launching glorious, heroic

Spoiler: show

suicide

charges to just slice off the head, or wherever the mind is, or even cripple its ability to fight by taking some OTHER vital piece of it out (like mobility killing a tank), instead of HAVING to stab it in the toe 100 times so all of its blood leaks out.

Component damage lets you come up with super creative fixes to big problems, that either make battles flashy, memorable displays of ingenious gambits, or

Spoiler: show

literally

flaming disasters that are equally memorable. WAY more fun than just focusing enemies one at a time because HP is a thing.

Another fun place for superhero inspiration is Batman: The Brave and the Bold. It is a love letter to the insane mockery of reality that was the Silver Age, and can give some great inspiration for ridiculous super-villain plans and doomsday devices, or as precedent to explain that the hero did not KILL that guy he just splattered across 3 city blocks with exploding boomerangs, he "tactically non-lethally disabled him" for the police to

Spoiler: show

clean

/pick up.

[stubby]

Tangentially related, I am a big fan of this system. I am a REALLY big war gamer, and despite familiarizing myself with countless rule systems running well into the realm of 3 digits, BrikWars is (ironically, considering its tone) the single best I have yet to find (making the money I spent on ASoBH, Power Legion, and SuperSystem right before finding it seem wasted).

I keep hearing that ASobH is pretty good. BrikWars has its strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't have a lot to offer at the operational or strategic level (some of my favorite wargaming territory), and its endgame has always been pretty weak (if players reach it at all). There's still plenty of room for improvement.

Also it needs an index.

[armchair overlord]

ASoBH is very good in that "classic" way. The rules are pretty simple and rough, but do what they are meant to do very well. If you are familiar with old-school wargaming, it should be pretty easy to apply house rules and fill in a lot of the blanks left by the book, but I was never quite able to shake the "incomplete" feeling it left, especially with how much assed material "will be covered in later books." Also, luck can have a pretty ridiculous amount of impact, in some cases. There are horror stories of someone losing in 2 rounds because they could not activate any of their units on their turns thanks to bad rolling. Power Legion (also by Ganesha) is good for the same reasons, but lacking in the same areas, where you basically need to write more rules for some pretty popular powers that were not included.

The BEST thing about them, though, is speed.

You could have a campaign planned out and ready to go 15 minutes after your group arrives without warning, especially if you use their online builder. For all of the weaknesses the rule-set has, it boasts the kind of speed of setup and play that most games in the genre could only dream of, with a solid enough base to capture the feel of the genre pretty well.

So, if you are looking for a quick and violent game with solid, efficient rules that is not too taxing to set up and play, the Ganesha ones get the job done very well.

[stubby]

I've been watching ASoBH youtube demo videos since posting earlier. I really like the compactness of those dice mechanics, but it does seem pretty directly disempowering to have such a high risk of losing your turn with every unit activation. Overall though I like the concept a lot.